Habits of highly mathematical people
medium.com
Habits of highly mathematical people
1–10 of 114 posts
Re: Habits of highly mathematical people
#2Only six habits, I would have hoped for a seventh one :)
Re: Habits of highly mathematical people
#3Only six habits, I would have hoped for a seventh one :)
in line with "Teasing apart the assumptions underlying an argument", perhaps the definition initially included a seventh habit, but it was found to be implied by the remaining six and discharged
Re: Habits of highly mathematical people
#4Only six habits, I would have hoped for a seventh one :)
Isn't there an old quip about how poor mathematicians are at arithmetic? ;)
Re: Habits of highly mathematical people
#57. Being precise.
The precision you hold yourself to through a rigorous approach to a problem is also very valuable and is the reason I think calculus is very important.
Re: Habits of highly mathematical people
#6Only six habits, I would have hoped for a seventh one :)
Come on, it's a perfect number!
Re: Habits of highly mathematical people
#7Couldn't this also be titled "Habits of high rational people", with mathematics simply being one application?
I'm not a mathematician and was miserable at math in school, but I apply these habits in the business world every day. They help me cut through a lot of crap that comes from other people's sloppy/lazy thinking.
>Anyone who has gone through an undergraduate math education has known a person (or been that person) to regularly point out that X statement is not precisely true in the very special case of Y that nobody intended to include as part of the discussion in the first place. It takes a lot of social maturity beyond the bare mathematical discourse to understand when this is appropriate and when it’s just annoying.
I don't disagree but would argue that the far more common problem is people - not just mathematicians, mind you - not considering definitions enough which ultimately leads to confusion and/or misunderstandings and consequently additional, unnecessary, cycles spent in discussion about "what do you really mean?"
Re: Habits of highly mathematical people
#87. Being precise. The precision you hold yourself to through a rigorous approach to a problem is also very valuable and is the reason I think calculus is very important.
> The precision you hold yourself to through a rigorous approach to a problem is also very valuable and is the reason I think calculus is very important.
What property concerning precision does calculus have that doesn't hold for any topic in mathematics?
Re: Habits of highly mathematical people
#9Only six habits, I would have hoped for a seventh one :)
The seventh is left as an exercise to the reader.
Re: Habits of highly mathematical people
#107. Being precise. The precision you hold yourself to through a rigorous approach to a problem is also very valuable and is the reason I think calculus is very important.
> The precision you hold yourself to through a rigorous approach to a problem is also very valuable and is the reason I think calculus is very important. What property concerning precision does calculus have that doesn't hold for any topic in mathematics?
Indeed. The most precise I ever had to be was in my real analysis course. It seems agreed upon that all professors that teach it will be utterly pendantic about all proofs in that class. Which I agree with as a sort of gateway to graduate mathematics but man was it frustrating haha